Outside of Pueblo, there is scant mention of the pioneer James P. Beckworth. In fact, it wasn’t that long ago that many or even most Puebloans even knew the name.
For generations of Pueblo students, the name was missing in school history classes and just about everywhere else. But without Beckworth deciding to lay down stakes at the confluence of the Fountain and Arkansas rivers in the early 1850’s, who even knows if Pueblo would have become the city it has become?
Beckworth, along with a handful of trappers and various other rugged pioneers, founded the town. But what makes Beckworth unique among these hearty souls is that he was a former slave who, after gaining his freedom, came west and lived a life that can only be described as colorful beyond belief.
But despite a founding with an inextricable connection to a Black man, Pueblo, Colorado’s tenth largest city, has only a three percent Black population. And Yanera McCulley Sedillo and her family know most of them. And in business, has served many, if not most, of them.
The McCulley family has owned the city’s only African American funeral home since 1968 and, while it serves the entire city, has been considered first when an African American family has lost a loved one.
“Knowing the culture and traditions,” said McCulley-Sedillo, “there’s just a different way to celebrate. African American culture, it’s a ‘home going celebration,’ a happy time.”
Despite a historically thin portfolio of African American history in Pueblo, the city’s El Pueblo Museum has done yeoman’s work in reminding visitors about the indelible presence of African Americans in Pueblo and across the swath of southern Colorado.
In the 2024 commemoration of Black History Month, the museum has joined with History Colorado to tell the story of two significant chapters of the region’s Black history. The exhibit, “The Dry: Black Women’s Legacy in a Farming Community,” tells the story of an early 20th century African American family that, despite the longest of odds, decided to settle a land that might as well have been the dark side of the moon. But despite its isolation—a plot of land just south of Manzanola—it offered true independence and an escape from the ills of bigotry that infected so much of the country.
The exhibit explains how two Black women, using an amended and expanded Homestead Act, came to the Arkansas Valley for the sole purpose of creating a new life absent the often dehumanizing ‘normalcy’ of the discrimination African Americans faced in other places. The sisters even encouraged other Black families to join them on their journey, periodically traveling out of state to make their pitch.
The story of the Rucker sisters, Josephine and Leonora, is told in hundreds of black and white photographs, each inscribed with brief, handwritten explanations of the people or locations that today sit frozen in time.
The story of “The Dry,” and the McCulley families is part of the African American fabric of Pueblo and southern Colorado. For the McCulleys, theirs is also an extension of the family from whom their funeral home was bought. Prior to them serving the city’s African American families, it was the Jones family, also African Americans, who handled the final arrangements of the city’s Black families, as well as many Latino families.
McCulley-Sedillo’s mother, Petra, was Panamanian and upon arrival in Pueblo with her husband, Charles, often served as a bridge connecting Latino families needing their services.
Today, more than a half century since the turbulent sixties when the family first arrived, McCulley-Sedillo says they are as ingrained in the community as anyone and provide families going through a challenging time the care and comfort they deserve.
“When I see new people, I embrace them,” said McCulley-Sedillo. “I engage them and let them know, if they need anything, I’m here.” It is what her father taught them, she said. “Treat people the same way you want to be treated,” was not simply a motto for the late Mr. McCulley. It was a fundamental tenet.
Tending to grieving families, though, is just one facet of the McCulley presence in the city. It extends to playing a central role in Pueblo’s Juneteenth celebration, honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and participating on boards, including the Pueblo Central High School Foundation, the school each of the McCulley children attended, as well as other events that showcase the city’s African American legacy in Pueblo and southern Colorado.
The business, said McCulley-Sedillo, is a family affair. All of the McCulley children play important roles and soon, another family member, her own son, will join. McCulley-Sedillo’s son will complete his degree in mortuary science this spring in Dallas and returns to Pueblo as the newest link in the business.
